MAGISTRATES have slapped an ASBO on two men caught illegally hare coursing in the district. Under the terms of the Anti Social Behaviour Order, 20-year-old William Catanach and 46-year-old Stephen Catanach are banned from Cambridgeshire while in possessio

MAGISTRATES have slapped an ASBO on two men caught illegally hare coursing in the district.

Under the terms of the Anti Social Behaviour Order, 20-year-old William Catanach and 46-year-old Stephen Catanach are banned from Cambridgeshire while in possession of dogs used for hare coursing.

And both men have been banned from being in the county with other people who are in possession of hare coursing dogs.

At Ely courthouse on Thursday, both men were also fined £600 after admitting illegal hare coursing. William Catanach, who had admitted damaging crops when driving an estate car over a field, was fined another £200 and banned from driving for nine months. Both men were ordered to pay £95 costs and a £15 surcharge.

At an earlier hearing, Ely magistrates were told how the police helicopter tracked both men as they drove away from farmland near Bottisham on March 8.

When officers stopped an estate car, they found four alleged hare coursers, two children and six muddy lurcher dogs inside.

*Co-defendant, Leslie Hughes, 42, of Guilden Morden, who denied illegal hare coursing, is due to appear at Ely courthouse on July 24. A 16-year-old, who admitted the same charge, was due to be sentenced by Basildon Youth Court.